Looking to get the most out of your university experience whilst learning invaluable employability skills and aiding the increasing accessibility of an expanding archive that has been around for nearly 90 years? I’m Amy Cooper, a third year English student that recently completed a placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections as a Digitisation Assistant. Here is …

The University Photographic Collection contains an enormous number of photographs taken by the University of Nottingham and its predecessor colleges over the past 120 years. We are gradually cataloguing them with the help of students like Sophie Pegum, who volunteered at Manuscripts & Special Collections as part of a placement from the Department of Music. …

Seventy-five years ago today, Nottingham residents emerged from their shelters into daylight to survey the devastation caused by an air raid and anxiously find out whether their friends and family were safe. For some, their worst fears were realised. Over 150 people were killed in the ‘Nottingham Blitz’, with several hundred more injured and over …

Good luck to all students sitting exams! Although you may feel like recycling the lot when it is all over, Manuscripts and Special Collections would like you to spare a thought for the material you might have accumulated which would make a good addition to the University Archives. Whether you’re vacating your room in halls, fleeing a …

The stereotypical, romanticized view of archives is one where researchers delve into a box of yellowed, long-forgotten papers to uncover clues and solve a mystery. But what happens when the boxes present more questions than they answer? For the last few months we’ve been turning to social media in an attempt to find out more …

To mark National Sporting Heritage Day, we’re looking back at some very local sports history in the archive. Whether an avid athlete or committed couch potato, the Sports Centre on University Park campus has played a key part in the University life of many students over the decades. As well as sport, it was also a …

Time Capsule Blogs by Sarah Colborne, Archivist (Collections), Manuscripts and Special Collections Manuscripts and Special Collections need your help to enrich the University archive collections and make them more representative! Here at Manuscripts and Special Collections we support The University of Nottingham by acquiring, preserving and developing archives, manuscripts and rare books for use in teaching, research …

Those of you who follow us on Twitter might get a sense of deja vu with the images in today’s post! For the last few weeks we have been posting some of the many ‘mystery’ photographs from our collections, in the hopes that someone may be able to shed light on who the people are. Often we …

This summer is the 10th anniversary of the re-opening of the only surviving working Victorian pumping station in the Midlands, Papplewick Pumping Station. In 1879, the Nottingham Waterworks Company built a reservoir near Papplewick, a small village just under 8 miles from Nottingham. Its purpose was to store water from Bestwood Waterworks to cope with …

This month sees the 160th anniversary of the start of the Crimean War (October 1853 – February 1856), between the Russian Empire and an alliance of French, British, Sardinian and Ottoman forces. As the Ottoman Empire declined, various European nations attempted to assert their influence over its territories. Fighting took place mostly in the Crimean peninsula, …

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About this blog

Manuscripts & Special Collections holds the archives and rare books at the University of Nottingham, based at King’s Meadow Campus. This blog regularly highlights material in the collections, and provides updates about exhibitions, teaching and other activities. Occasional guest posts feature researchers and volunteers working with our unique resources